Clippers’ Piatkowski Makes a Point or Three

With the change in the NBA’s three-point line from a standard 22 feet to 23 feet 9 inches at the top of the circle, you might think the Clippers’ best outside shooter, Eric Piatkowski, would be distraught. Think again.

It will remove the riff-raff from his neighborhood.

“Guys like me will have greater value because we’re among the few who can consistently hit the shot,” he said.

“Before, everybody thought they were three-point shooters. You had centers stepping out, power forwards stepping out. Some of them could hit it, but most of them didn’t have any business out there.”

But will moving the three-point line increase the NBA’s scoring average, which dropped for the 10th time in 11 seasons in 1996-97?

Piatkowski thinks not.

When the NBA Board of Governors approved the change after last season, their reasoning was that the line was so close it allowed a defensive player to guard an outside shooter and still drop back to a double team. Now, defensive players will find it more difficult to retreat, opening more space in the lane.

That will create more flow in the offense, but Piatkowski said it won’t necessarily add points to the scoreboard because defenses are too good.

Not so long ago, NBA defense was an oxymoron, like religious war or student athlete.

Today, Piatkowski said, college players are stunned when they arrive at their first NBA training camps and realize how much emphasis coaches place on defense.

“If you don’t play defense for Coach [Bill] Fitch, you don’t play,” Piatkowski said. “He might have been in the minority of NBA coaches five, 10 years ago. Now he’s in the majority.”

If any rule change this season has a positive effect on scoring, Piatkowski said, it will be the one eliminating the forearm check from a defensive player’s repertoire when the ballhandler faces the basket. The forearm check became popular three seasons ago, when the hand check was prohibited.

“You try guarding Michael Jordan or Latrell Sprewell without touching them at all,” Piatkowski has complained to officials during the exhibition season.

They smile. It’s not their problem.

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The Los Angeles City Council’s vote Tuesday sealed the downtown arena deal, right? . . .

In this city, you never know. . . .

What will be the next hurdle, that environmental-impact lawsuit? . . .

If King co-owner Philip Anschutz wasn’t so stubborn, the developers would have pulled out of this political quagmire months ago. . . .

Too bad he’s not as committed to bringing an NFL team to Los Angeles. . . .

Actually, there aren’t many NFL teams I’m that interested in seeing. . . .

Just past midseason, 24 of the 30 teams have at least three losses. . . .

The rematch of Super Bowl teams Monday night was even less compelling than the Super Bowl. . . .

Choosing not to wait to find out whether he could get his horse in the Nov. 8 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Hollywood Park, trainer Craig Lewis decided to enter popular Larry The Legend in today’s Skywalker Stakes at Santa Anita. . . .

If Gentlemen hadn’t come down with a fever last week, would he have been supplemented to the Breeders’ Cup Classic?. . . .

You bet. His co-owner, R.D. Hubbard, already had the $800,000 in checks written. . . .

Speaking of gentlemen, there are few in sports to match 1984 Olympic figure skating champion Scott Hamilton. . . .

He makes his first public appearance on ice tonight at the Forum since surgery in March for testicular cancer. . . .

“Scott Hamilton: Back on the Ice,” which will be taped for a Nov. 5 telecast on CBS, has a cast of skaters unparalleled outside of the Olympics. . . .

Also included are Brian Boitano, Kristi Yamaguchi, Katarina Witt, Paul Wylie, Rosalynn Sumners, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Brian Orser. . . .

Jane Seymour is the host. . . .

No, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, did not perform the surgery. . . .

The Cleveland Clinic, which did, will receive part of the proceeds. . . .

It has been a season of indignities for USC. . . .

Arizona State took mercy instead of running up the score on the Trojans. . . .

Only a failed 36-yard field goal prevented them from losing at home to Oregon. . . .

Now Washington Coach Jim Lambright is having to warn his team not to look past USC and Oregon to really big games against UCLA and Washington State.

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While wondering if Shaquille O’Neal’s nagging injury will nag the Lakers all season, I was thinking: I’m glad Jerry West isn’t considering that Eddie Jones-for-Mitch Richmond deal, women NBA referees will be booed in every arena, just like male NBA referees.